A Study in Governance?

“Habkirk is also listed as an associate with Jerry Berry Consultants Inc., a consulting firm owned by former Nanaimo city manager Jerry Berry. However, Habkirk submitted a bid for the work to the city independently from Berry’s firm, said Terry Hartley, Nanaimo human resources and organizational planning director.

She will be paid between $7,225 and $8,500 to create documents outlining roles and responsibilities of the mayor and council members, as well as set guidelines and protocol on how councillors request information or raise issues or concerns about city staff members.”

We may all recall the nearly $500,000 paid in as yet undisclosed deal to Mr. Berry to go away. If this was not a matter of governance, and indeed one most egregious, then I would find it difficult to conceive of one more appropriate. Is the man and/or his firm to now be paid to determine questions of governance for the city with this history hanging over his firm? Can he make himself invisible by having his associates neglect to report their connection to him? If Staff neglected to report this connection to Council along with their recommendation to appoint this consultant, shame on Staff. If Council was aware of this connection and made this appointment in the face of what appears to be an obvious abuse of governance, and a very costly one indeed for Nanaimo taxpayers, shame on Council.

Ron Bolin

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Ron Bolin December 30, 2013

I have finally and with some prodding received a response to my submission as a letter to the editor regarding the choice on an associate of Mr. Berry to be hired as a consultant to perform work for the City on the matter of the City’s governance. Here is the correspondence to date on this matter. Remember that this correspondence must be read from the bottom up.
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Mark: Sorry “The team” feels that way. In this letter I have complained of poor judgement on the City’s part, but an accusation of corruption? I think not.

Letter to the Editor
Re: Consultants will get up to $20K, Spencer Anderson, Dec. 17, 2013
Mr. Anderson’s report states that:
“Habkirk is also listed as an associate with Jerry Berry Consultants Inc., a consulting firm owned by former Nanaimo city manager Jerry Berry. However, Habkirk submitted a bid for the work to the city independently from Berry’s firm, said Terry Hartley, Nanaimo human resources and organizational planning director.

She will be paid between $7,225 and $8,500 to create documents outlining roles and responsibilities of the mayor and council members, as well as set guidelines and protocol on how councillors request information or raise issues or concerns about city staff members.”

An examination of Mr. Berry and Ms. Habkirk’s web site:http://www.jbconsultants.ca/index.php/associates/
reveals the relation between Ms. Habkirk and Mr. Berry. The contact email address is given as:HabkirkBerry@shaw.ca .
We may all recall the nearly $500,000 paid in as yet undisclosed deal to Mr. Berry to go away. If this was not a matter of governance, and indeed one most egregious, then I would find it difficult to conceive of one more appropriate. Is the man and/or his firm to now be paid to determine questions of governance for the city with this history hanging over his firm? Can he make himself invisible by having his associates neglect to report their connection to him? If Staff neglected to report this connection to Council along with their recommendation to appoint this consultant, shame on Staff. If Council was aware of this connection and made this appointment in the face of what appears to be an obvious abuse of governance, and a very costly one indeed for Nanaimo taxpayers, shame on Council.
Ron Bolin
3165 King Richard Drive
Nanaimo, BC V9T 4A1
Tel 250-758-3973
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A response to the January 11, 2014 SDWI presentation:
Good morning David,
Last November I attended a meeting of the Island Ferries cross-straits foot ferry hopefuls. Their plan requires a large area of parking located just were you propose a Cultural Center.

2. Looking back over the last forty year we have had continual wars, a break down of the international financial system, exponential growth of local national government and personal debt, depletion of the local resource industry, stagnation of population, stagnation of development, a VICC yet to prove its worth, opportunistic non-planning (Woodgrove and the new Port Place) draining life and custom from the traditional commercial centre and an as yet a council unable to admit to that faux pas, a confused, if it still exists, urban containment boundary awaiting the next soft spoken predator eager to elasticize its geography and ever-creeping residential sprawl. I was here forty years ago. I do not remember factoring any of that into our plans!

3. Four different visions for the same property belie confidence in any one of them!

4. Add to the above a civic and regional administration, both elected and appointed, apparently distracted and out of touch with reality (i.e. clandestinely developing a new C$16M civic admin building replacing an obviously perfectly sound existing admin building and rushing head-long into replacing the Colliery Dams as though it has limitless cash resources)!

a. Less and less dependency on food produce supplies trucked up from points south.
b. A reliable source of food produce husbanded by local labour and resources.
c. A park-like walking ambience conducive to a more healthy life style than watching the Canucks on telly or the Clippers on a hard bench in a cold arena!

Dr. David Witty, the mastermind behind these plans will be presenting to Nanaimo City Council Monday evening, 1900 hours, January 20 at VICC and on Shaw Cable simultaneously.

If his delivery is as unnecessarily prolix as he was his January 11th I suggest you watch on Shaw, in a confortable chair with a hot cup of coffee!